Dragon Age – Wherefore Art Thou?

Dragon Age fans will be aware that hype has been very thin on the ground. With a 19th November UK release date, you’d expect more features, more news releases, but… nothing.

It seems like BioWare have been using stealth tactics to release Dragon Age: Inquisition, in keeping with a new “trickle” trend in triple-A game releases. With so many big-hitters coming out at the same time, BioWare have answered questions early about the orientation of the characters, knowing how important this is to players who are looking for relationship-building and diversity. But other than a few trailers and gameplay videos… not a lot. Not a sniff. It’s all gone quiet on the Thedas front…

Until now.

Normally, you’ll get game reviews on launch day, maybe a day before, due to embargoes. And it’s not just embargoes – stealth promotion tactics can also mean that fewer review copies are seeded out to keep online information low. Big game review sites have previously mentioned that they’re not even getting preview copies of games.

But now a WHOLE BUNCH OF DRAGON AGE: INQUISITION reviews have been leaked a week early (to encourage pre-orders, yo) and good heavens they look AMAZING!

Review Roundup of Dragon Age: Inquisition

Gamespot: 9/10 – “It offers the thrill of discovery and the passion of camaraderie. It features a glee club called The Sing-Quisition, and a dwarf with writer’s block. Dragon Age: Inquisition is a wonderful game” – Kevin VanOrd

Joystiq: 5/5 – “Dragon Age: Inquisition is BioWare’s reaffirmation of what it’s capable of delivering. It’s a gorgeous game on an epic scale. Rich in character and story, it creates a fantasy world with plausible social rules you can get lost in.” – Alexander Sliwinski

Polygon: 9.5/10 – “Dragon Age: Inquisition is one of the biggest games I’ve ever played, and I still want more. Dragon Age: Inquisition puts the fate of the world in your hands in a way that few role-playing games have done before.” – Philip Kollar

Digital Spy: 4/5 – “BioWare has clearly listened to, and learned from, the criticisms leveled at Dragon Age II. It has also cherry picked some of the best elements of its Mass Effect series00most notably the more exhaustive dialogue options–to create a role-playing game of sweeping scale and often surprising impact.” – John Robertson

If you want a fully comprehensive roundup of reviews, go head over to Gamespot. They’ve got it covered. But it sounds like BioWare have fixed all the problems with 2 (just one location, repeating dungeons etc.) and they’ve also listened to critical feedback very early on about increasing the diversity of its characters. On top of that, they’ve created a massive-scale world with richer narrative than ever before. It’s one of our very favourite time-sinks, and we can’t wait.

Pre-order the game

Haven’t pre-ordered yet? Get the game from Amazonvia our mooky affiliate link (with our thanks). Will Dragon Age: Inquisition be on Steam? Probably not – you may have to head straight to Origin for a download option.